success from the sunshine state

8/9/2019 Success from the Sunshine State

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Success from theSunshine StateWhen Illinois schools are failing,it’s time to copy Florida’s winning strategies

“It’s known that states decide how many

prisons to build based on third-grade reading scores. However, we as a society are not lifting a nger to change the system...I cannot sit back and watch so many of our poor and minority children who live on the South and West Sidesenter high school reading below grade level.”

So wrote the Reverend Senator James Meeksin a 2009 Chicago Tribune essay, in which theSouth Side pastor and Illinois Senate educationcommittee chairman threw open the doors tobold, bi-partisan education solutions.1

In the months since, Illinois has been home toan intense debate over school reform. A school

voucher bill co-authored by Sen. Meeks hasreceived a great deal of attention, and for goodreason. It would give parents in Chicago’s worstand most overcrowded schools the option tosend their children to a private school instead.But beyond his support for school choice,the Reverend Senator has been emphatic on alarger point: we should be willing to support

any reform that improves education for families who for generations have no choice other thanfailing public schools.

Those serious in meeting Meeks’s challenge will look to Florida. For decades, teenageilliteracy has plagued southern states, just as inChicago. Beginning twelve years ago, Florida

implemented a series of reforms designed

to improve the lives of disadvantaged andminority students. School choice has been acornerstone policy of the plan. But Floridahas also expanded online learning, refusedto promote 3rd graders who cannot read,diversi ed its teaching ranks through moremodern teacher certi cation programs, andcreated an understandable system of grading schools that tells parents and taxpayers whethertheir children and money should stay put or besent elsewhere.

At rst, these reforms were disquieting tothose who were part of the status quo, butthe results are astounding. Over a twelve yearperiod in which the nation’s and Illinois’s fourthgrade reading scores have remained at orbarely improved, Florida’s elementary schoolperformance has climbed dramatically.

In 1998, the year in which Florida beganintroducing its bold school reforms, the state’stest scores were some of the lowest in the

country. Florida now ranks sixth in the country on the Nation’s Report Card for 4th gradereading, published by the U.S. Department of Education. Florida’s improvement is almostentirely due to an incredible increase in thescores of their low-income and minority students. The following pages contain data toprove this point.

Collin Hitt is the Director of Education Policy at the Illinois Policy Institute. Ashley Muchow , a Koch Associate at the Illinois Policy Institute, assisted in the research and writing of this brief.



In 1998, Florida’s low-income student scoresranked 33rd out of 40 states that were gradedon the Nation’s Report Card. By 2009, federaleducation of cials were ranking all fty states

– and Florida’s low-income student test scores

were the best in the country. Illinois ranked42nd.

In fact, Florida’s low-income students’ reading scores are almost in line with those of Illinoisstudents of all income groups combined. If Illinois’s low-income students scored as well asFlorida’s in 2009, our state’s overall ranking in4th grade reading could potentially leap from30th place into the top ve.

Florida has moved from a state in crisis to themost exciting place in the country for schoolreform. Yet advocates in the Sunshine State

will tell you that their work is not done. Statelawmakers are expanding key reforms that moststates, including Illinois, have yet to even try.So, if the success of the last twelve years is any indication, Florida’s test scores and graduationrates for minority and low-income students willcontinue to rise.

Illinois’s Sen. Meeks puts it perfectly: “Whena child reaches high school at a fth-gradereading level, society offers no hope, no futureand illiteracy as a way of life because we havefailed that child for eight years.” Without boldpolicy changes, Illinois will continue to failstudents whose only opportunity for success inlife is the education they receive in our schools.Florida now does a better job than any statein teaching its low-income youngsters how toread, and thus provides a road map for Illinois.

The following pages show why anyone seriousin improving the lives of our state’s poor and

minority children should follow it.

The Data on School Performance The following policy brief draws upon high-quality research and data. When understoodproperly, the data on Florida’s progress virtually argue for themselves: Florida’s reforms are

working for their students, and struggling states would do well to enact similar policies. As such,it is important to provide a brief explanation of the data used herein.

Since 1968, a test called the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)has tracked national trends in reading andmath skills within public schools. One of theoldest standardized tests in America, it is still

one of the most respected. It is an objectivemeasure of public education, and has not been watered down (as has happened with Illinois’sself-created tests). Beginning in 1988, NAEP

was expanded to track state-level results. All 50 states issue the NAEP test to a large,representative group of public school studentsand report the results to the U.S. Departmentof Education. The state-level results arepublished as The Nation’s Report Card.

The Report Card allows researchers andpolicymakers to compare states and studentgroups on an apples-to-apples basis. Forexample, not only can we compare Illinois toFlorida, but we can compare Hispanic studentsin Illinois to Hispanic students in Florida, orHispanic students in Illinois to White studentsin Illinois. So on and so forth.

Using the Nation’s Report Card, severalresearchers have observed wildly differenttrends between states in reading and mathresults. This report looks at the difference intrends between Florida, Illinois, and the nationas a whole.

The following pages present data from theNation’s Report Card on fourth grade reading.

The test is scored on a 0 to 500 scale. Rarely do any student groups score as low as 150 oras high as 350 during the fourth grade. In thefollowing graphs, you will observe frequentyear-to-year changes of 2 and 3 points. Thesetypically do not represent signi cant changes

in reading skills. For example, according to theU.S. Department of Education, “The averagescore for students in Illinois in 2009 (219) wasnot signi cantly different from their averagescore in 2007 (219) and was not signi cantly different from their average score in 2003(216).”2

However, larger differences in performance dorepresent signi cant changes. For example, the20 point gains made by Florida 4th graders

Florida’s ow-income

students’ reading scores are almost n line with hose

of Illinois students of all income groups combined.

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between 1998 and 2009 represents as much astwo grade levels worth of learning.

The tables on the following pages tell acompelling story of a state that has made

signi cant, historic gains. Florida has movedfrom an academic bottom feeder to a relatively high-performing state. And it has done so onthe strength of student groups who, all toooften, are left behind – especially in Illinois.If policymakers in Illinois are interested inimproving our schools, then they will heed thefollowing data. Details about Florida’s winning public policies are discussed immediately following the review of statistics from Florida,Illinois and the nation as a whole.

Florida moved

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Graph 1: All Students

The improvement in Florida’s student performance is irrefutable. From 2003 to 2009, Florida’s low-income 4th grade reading scores saw a jump greater than that in any other state. While the nationas a whole made slow progress, Florida witnessed dramatic improvement in student achievement;by 2009, 36 percent of Florida’s 4th-graders were scoring pro cient and above, compared to only

33 percent nationally and 32 in Illinois. As the following pages show, Florida’s galloping academicperformance is being spurred by its minority and disadvantaged students.

NOTE: NAEP Reading scale ranges from 0 to 500. Illinois NAEP scores begin in 2003; scores were unavailable in2000 and reporting standards were not met in 1998 and 2002. Florida NAEP scores unavailable in 2000.

SOURCE: Nation’s Report Card Reading Scores collected from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP),1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009 Reading Assessments.

From 2003o 2009,

Florida’s low- ncome 4th

grade reading scores saw a ump greater

han that n any other state.

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Graph 2: Hispanic Students

Perhaps the most remarkable trend in Florida’s schools has been with Hispanic students. In 2009,Florida’s Hispanic students scored an average of 223, nearly 20 points above the national averageof 205 (and 203 in Illinois). With their 223 scale score, Hispanic students in Florida also now demonstrate higher reading skills than Illinois students as a whole (219, see page 4). Moreover, the

18 point gap between Illinois’s and Florida’s 4th grade reading scores represents somewhere betweenone and two grade levels worth of learning.



Hispanistudentsin Floridalso nowdemonshigher reading

than Illistudentswhole.

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Graph 3: African American Students

African American students are on the rise, like almost every group of students in Florida. Thepercentage of African American students in Florida considered pro cient in reading has doubledsince 1998. African American students in Illinois and Florida had roughly similar test scores in 2003.

Today the gap between Florida’s black fourth graders and Illinois’s represents almost a grade level

worth of learning. There is little doubt that Florida’s bold reforms have had some of their heaviestimpacts on minority communities.



The gapbetween Florida’s black fourth graders and llinois’s

represents almost a grade level worth of earning.

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Graph 4: Low-Income Students

Many of the challenges affecting minority students stem from poverty. Florida’s school reforms – especially its school choice and charter school programs – aim rmly at improving the lives of economically disadvantaged students. The table below shows that Florida’s poverty ghting schoolreforms have had success, bene ting poor families of every ethnic background. The percentage of

Florida’s low-income students scoring at and above pro cient jumped more than twofold; increasing from 12 percent in 1998 to 25 percent in 2009.



Florida’ poverty ghtingreformshad sucbene ti

poor fam

of everethnic backgro

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Graph 5: Students with Disabilities

Florida’s education policies place a special emphasis on students who begin the year behind theirpeers. Often, this puts the onus on students with learning disabilities and other impediments.Furthermore, as discussed on page 12, Florida offers school vouchers to any student with adisability. The resulting competition between schools for disabled students has led public schools

to improve their results and practices, according to scholarly research. In 2009, Florida’s disabledstudents yielded an average composite score of 204, signi cantly greater than the 190 scorednationally and 188 in Illinois. Since 1998, Florida’s special education student scores have increaseda remarkable 34 points. Most of that progress was made between 2003 and 2009, when Florida’sscores rose by 20 points while Illinois’s only improved by 5.



Florida offers school vouchers toany student with a disability.

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Graph 6: English Language Learners

Florida and Illinois both have very heavy enrollments of English Language Learners. In bothstates, most of those students speak Spanish as a native language. Research has shown thatstudents who are or become bi-lingual have a far greater chance of academic success than students

who speak only English or, conversely, no English at all. Florida’s numbers top both the nation

and Illinois; in 2009, 13 percent of Florida’s English Language Learners were scoring at and abovepro cient, compared to 7 percent in Illinois and 6 percent nationally. No doubt, these numbersmust improve nationwide. But Florida is on an unmistakable upward trend, improving their scalescores by 21 points since 2002 while the nation has improved by 5.

NOTE: NAEP Reading scale ranges from 0 to 500. Illinois NAEP scores begin in 2003; scores were unavailable in2000 and reporting standards were not met in 1998 and 2002. Florida NAEP scores unavailable in 2000. FloridaEnglish Language Learners NAEP scores unavailable in 1998.


Florida’numbertop bothnation aIllinois.

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Graph 7: Students in the Bottom 25th Percentile

Schools in Florida receive “A through F” grades based on student performance. Weighted heavily inthat grading system is the performance of students who enter the year testing at or below the 25thpercentile in their class. It’s a simple fact that some students will test in the 25th percentile whileothers will test in the 99th; the challenge to schools is how well they teach all students, including

those who are behind their peers. Today, students in the 25th percentile in Florida are scoring a remarkable 25 scale points higher than their peers in 1998. In fact, students in Florida’s 25thpercentile in 2009 have scores comparable to students in the state’s 50th percentile in 1998 (206 to211).



The challenge o schools is how well they each

all students,ncluding hose who are

behind their peers.

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Bold public policy has led to a remarkableturnaround in Florida’s public schools. As theprevious pages show, Florida’s 4th gradersare now the most promising class of young students in the country. The state is the nationalchampion of early literacy for low-income

students. But Florida’s successes are not limitedto the early years, nor to reading.

Florida’s 8th grade reading scores climbed from37th in 2003 to 11th in 2009. Within the sametime period, Illinois managed to lose ground,dropping in rank from 25th to 35th. Studentperformance in mathematics improved as well.Florida’s 4th grade low-income mathematicsscores rank 8th in the nation; Illinois ranks 8thfrom the bottom, at 42nd. In 2003, 11 percentof Florida’s low-income 8th-graders werescoring pro cient or above; come 2009, 29percent met this achievement level, placing thestate within the nation’s top ten.

The winning policies in Florida were bipartisan,ef cient, and implemented at the state level.Most importantly, they focused on changing theK-12 school system itself without increasing the burden on taxpayers or creating new child

welfare programs that claim to obviate the needfor education reform.

In Illinois, insofar as education policy haschanged since 1998, it has largely followed twopaths: increasing spending on K-12 educationand expanding government-funded preschoolprograms. The presumption of our state’spolicy priorities is that our current educationsystem needs greater inputs – in terms of students and money – as opposed to a shakeupof how schools are managed and chosen.Illinois’s graduation rates and its scores on theNation’s Report Card have largely remained at.

Aside from a successful but small charterschool movement in Illinois, little has beendone to challenge the existing system. Illinoishas, on average, spent $1,534 more per studentthan Florida over the past ten years. Our state’searly childhood education programs haveconsistently been rated highly in terms of access and quality by groups like the NationalInstitute for Early Education Research, whileFlorida’s have scored much lower. Meanwhile,

Florida’s test scores have skyrocketed—andIllinois’s have stagnated.

In Florida, several policies were implementedthat fundamentally changed how families

viewed and selected their schools. Each of

those policies can be implemented in Illinois,and each is summarized below.

The Foundation for Excellence in Education was founded in Tallahassee in 2007 to helpother states hoping to reverse the fortunes of their own schools. Staffed by Florida education

veterans and chaired by former governor JebBush, the foundation outlines the reforms thathave proven vital to Florida’s success.

Grading School PerformanceSchools in Florida are issued grades based uponthe performance of their students. It’s a systemthat parents can understand, with schoolsreceiving an A, B, C, D or F.

Called the A Plus Program, the grading system has been essential to Florida’s dramaticimprovements in teaching disadvantagedstudents how to read. The grading systemheavily weights the performance of students

whose reading skills at the beginning of theyear rank in the bottom 25 percent of theirclass. In reading and math, schools are scoredevenly on three measures: pro ciency for allstudents, the progress made by all studentsover the course of the school year, andprogress for disadvantaged students. Underthis system, it is impossible for schools to coaston the performance of students who enterthe classroom already performing at relatively high levels – and it is impossible to mask thestagnation of disadvantaged students who havefallen behind.

Schools that receive low grades are placedunder certain sanctions, and students in thoseschools are eligible for targeted services. Inpersistently failing schools, for example, parentshave been given special vouchers to send theirchildren elsewhere, if they so choose. This hasexposed low performing schools to increasedscrutiny and competition – and the researchis unanimous that “D” and“F” schools havegotten better as a result. 3

In Floridseveral

policies wimplemethat

fundamechanged how famviewed aselected tschools.

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The idea of sanctioning schools is controversialto many education interest groups, including some school choice supporters who opposegiving central of ce bureaucrats control of a school system that they believe should beentirely decentralized in its governance. But an

argument over sanctions should be consideredseparately from an argument over an A throughF school grading system.

Issuing grades in Illinois schools is necessary and overdue. There should be little controversy in providing parents with factual informationin a format that they can use and understand –

which is what Florida’s A Plus program does atits best.

At present, the quality and readability of schoolperformance data in Illinois is laughable. Schoolperformance is communicated to parents as thepercentage of students “meeting or exceeding state standards.” Even if the term “meeting state standards” held meaning for most parents,research has now shown that Illinois’s of cialstandards are bunk. Fewer than half of allstudents who met state standards in 4th gradereading would be considered pro cient onthe Nation’s Report Card. In math, a federalDepartment of Education study determinedthat Illinois had some of the lowest standardsin the country.4

Happily, however, developments are taking place that could allow Illinois policymakers tocreate a grading system identical to Florida’s.Illinois education of cials will soon begintracking individual student performance overtime through a new data system. Also, as partof a national movement towards commontesting standards, Illinois and Florida mightboth soon be using the same standardized test.

As Florida adapts its grading rubric for a new test, Illinois can simply use the exact samemethodology to grade its own schools.

With reliable tests and a new data system – called the P-20 Longitudinal Data System – setto be in place by 2013, Illinois researchers willpossess the tools needed to measure and rateits schools as Florida does. State and localpolicymakers should then begin grading schoolsin a way that puts a special emphasis on the

education of poor and disadvantaged children,or turn the data over to someone who will.

Again, sanctions and interventions aside,this will make our public schools much moretransparent. Ratings and rankings are important

in public affairs, as in commercial life. Agrading system would inform the decisionsof all involved in Illinois’s school system. Themore that parents and taxpayers understandabout the quality of their schools, the betterdecisions they can make in both the school yearand election day.

School Voucher ProgramsSince 1998, Florida has created three schoolchoice programs that allow parents to receive

vouchers to attend private schools shouldthey so choose. The oldest such program isthe McKay Scholarship program for students

with disabilities. The two other programshave now effectively been combined into one,providing vouchers to low-income students.

The programs allow parents to easily opt out of their assigned school and into a private schoolthey feel better suits their child. Each programhas been demonstrated to improve outcomesand practices within the public schools – increased competition for students has been acatalyst for statewide improvement in studentlearning.

Under the state’s McKay Scholarship Program,any special education student in Florida canreceive a voucher to attend the private or publicschool of their choice. Should a family electto send their special needs child to a privateschool, the voucher is worth the lesser of twoamounts (either the private school’s tuition orthe per pupil spending in their home schooldistrict). Polling data has repeatedly shown that

parents whose students use the vouchers aremuch happier with their new schools. Students

who use the vouchers are 89 percent lesslikely to be teased or bullied and 75 percentless likely to be assaulted, according to theirparents. Researcher Jay Greene found that,as a result of the program, public schools inFlorida are less likely to diagnose a student witha learning disability, helping to stem a freneticnational trend of placing a special needslabel on students who have for some reason

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Charter schools in

Chicago are changing public education for the better, often dramatically.



too small to take on the task of authorizing charter schools. Illinois has 869 school districts.

Their small size can be bene cial when making many decisions, but the limitations imposedby their size have led the state and districtsthemselves to create hundreds of intermediate

service agencies – new bureaucracies with thescale to handle services ranging from vocationalschooling to special education servicesto regulatory compliance. Charter schoolauthorizing is a perfect example of a functionthat small districts simply aren’t well suited tohandle.

Florida, on the other hand, has organized itsschools into much larger county-wide districts.By contrast, that state has 413 charter schools, anumber that increases year to year.8

Florida families have greater access to charterschools because their school districts oftenhave the willingness and scale to issue andoversee charter schools. Charter schools in theSunshine State received an A grade almost twothirds of the time on the state’s school reportcard, and the achievement gap for minority students is typically smaller than at traditionalpublic schools.

But most notably, Florida charter schools havedone a far superior job in graduating theirstudents from high school. This policy brief has focused primarily on Florida’s progressin early literacy, but Florida has also madethe strongest gains since 2002 on Education

Week’s measure of state graduation rates. A2008 study from RAND Corporation showedthat merely attending a charter high schoolin Florida improved a student’s chances of graduating from high school by 15 points, onaverage.9 The same study showed that Chicago

charter schools have enjoyed similar success.Communities across Illinois could use a similarboost: Illinois’s graduation rates outside of Chicago have been at or even declined in thelast decade.

Florida school districts are typically muchlarger than school districts in Illinois. Sizeand scale are essential assets to quality charterschool authorizing – it’s no coincidence thatover ninety percent of Illinois’s charter school

campuses are operating in Chicago. ChicagoPublic Schools is the largest district in theMidwest, which gives it the scale needed toauthorize multiple charter schools.

A 2009 report from the National Association

of Charter School Authorizers found that bestpractices were far more likely to be used by authorizing agencies that oversee 10 or moreor charter schools. 10 Most school districts inIllinois do not consist of 10 schools, and all buta handful have fewer than 30. A vast majority of Illinois school districts cannot sustain a highquality of ce for charter school authorizing.

They are simply too small.

Suitable large-scale organizations that existin Illinois could serve as charter schoolauthorizers if state policy was changed to allow them to do so. Public universities in Illinoishave shown an interest in authorizing charterschools, a practice which is common in otherstates and particularly successful in New York,Michigan and Missouri.11 Moreover, an of cialIllinois state task force recently recommendedthat the Illinois State Board of Education begiven the capacity to expand upon its nominalauthority to issue new charters.12 Illinois couldimplement these policies without threatening the control that local school districts have overexisting schools, and new schools could becreated to provide parents with new and betteroptions.

Expansive Online Learning There are cracks in our school system, andstudents fall through them every day. Onlinelearning is lling those cracks when little elsehas worked. Students can sit at a computer,have constant access to a real teacher via phoneand e-mail, receive help from a coach in the

room with them, and learn with the help of software that moves at their own pace – allfor the same cost of providing them with atraditional education with an instructor at thefront of the room. The Center for DigitalLearning ranked 25 states based on their onlinelearning policies in 2009. Florida came in rst.Illinois, last.

Online learning can help dropouts recovercredits – and even earn a high school diploma

Charter school authorizing s a perfect

example of a unction that

small districts simply aren’t well suited tohandle.

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– at small learning centers that adapt to theirschedules. Gifted students can use onlinelearning to energetically consume content.Homebound and hospitalized students can haveschooling brought to them. Rural students canhave access to previously unavailable foreign

language and advanced placement courses.

Florida supports a statewide online learning initiative called the Florida Virtual School,

which enrolls more than 200,000 students inindividual courses that count for credit at thepublic schools where they’re enrolled. The stateis also home to dozens of full and part-time

virtual school programs at the district level, andthe non-pro t Connections Academy operatesthe Florida Full Time Program, open to any student in the state. One of the most innovativeparts of Florida’s online learning policy is that

virtual education providers only receive fullfunding for courses that students successfully complete.

Every student in Illinois should have access toa full and part-time virtual education programs.

These take on a number of forms: statewideplatforms like the Florida Virtual School thatbeam content into thousands of public schools,and full-time programs where students canlearn from a distance or beside other studentsin a small learning center.

Ending Early Social PromotionRemember the following quotation on the

rst page of this policy brief, from pastor andIllinois lawmaker James Meeks: “When a childreaches high school at a fth-grade reading level, society offers no hope, no future andilliteracy as a way of life because we have failedthat child for eight years.” One reason why our children reach high school far below grade

level is that our schools advance them to futuregrades regardless of how much they’ve learned.It’s a practice called social promotion, and arecent Florida law put a stop to it in the early elementary years.

In 2002, Florida lawmakers took the boldstep of requiring schools to hold back thirdgraders who scored at the lowest levels on statereading tests. A 2006 study by Jay Greene andMarcus Winters showed that the policy was a

resounding success – in fact, students who wereheld back were reading better than their formerclassmates who scored slightly higher and justmade the cut. 13

Various other schools and districts across the

country have sought to end social promotion atthe higher grade levels, Chicago among them. The effectiveness of those programs is mixed,according to the scholarly research. And so itseems that the clear opportunity to improveliteracy in teenagers is to improve their reading skills when they are young. Florida’s 4th gradershave seen their reading scores skyrocket, andthe state’s policy ending early social promotionhas demonstrably contributed to that.

In 2010, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signedlegislation ending 3rd grade social promotionin her state. Governor Mitch Daniels hasproposed to do the same in Indiana. Illinoisshould be next in line.

Attracting Diverse TeachersIllinois has a racial gap in its teaching profession, and it affects academic results.

Across the state, 29 percent of working ageadults are Hispanic or black, compared to only 9.6 percent of its public school teachers. This19.4 percentage point gap is the second only toNew York.

A 2009 essay by Harvard professor PaulPeterson showed that teacher certi cation rulesare often to blame for racial disparities in theteaching force.14 In Illinois, as in many states,aspiring teachers must take a large number of courses prescribed by Illinois law in order tobecome certi ed . These rules favor teachercolleges and other groups seeking to controlthe talent pipeline into Illinois schools. But

other states have created alternative routesto certi cation that are more exible incoursework requirements while still testing content knowledge and requiring studentteaching.

Peterson’s 2009 essay identi ed 21 states with genuine alternative routes to teachercerti cation ; Illinois is not one of them. Of the 10 states whose teacher workforce mostclosely matched the racial makeup of their

One reawhy ourchildrenreach hischool fbelow glevel is

our schoadvancethem to

future gregardleof howmuch thlearned

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total population, 9 were states with alternativecerti cation. Peterson also found that states

with alternative certi cation programs hadmuch higher gains on the Nation’s Report Card,including Florida.

Alternative teaching certi cation routes allow established professionals who graduated withnon-teaching degrees to transition into a careerin the classroom. It’s worth noting that, withinIllinois, staf ng exibility has been a bene t forcharter schools, which can ll up to one in fourteaching positions with uncerti ed but quali edprofessionals. The research is unanimous thatIllinois charter schools, using their diverseteaching faculties, are outperforming otherpublic schools.15

Every school in Illinois should have the samestaf ng leeway as the state’s charter schools.

And every aspiring teacher in Illinois shouldhave the same freedom as they would inFlorida, to choose a program that best preparesthem for a career in public education.

This is sound, sensible policy. As Petersonconcluded, “Genuine alternative certi cationopens the door to more minority teachers, andstudent learning is more rapid in states wherethe reform has been introduced.” 16

ConclusionFlorida has given more and more schoolchoices to its families, especially to those withlimited means, those whose children mightbe stuck in a failing school, and those whohave children with special needs. SunshineState policymakers are unafraid to give toughgrades to schools that allow some students tolanguish behind their peers. If young studentsare reading far below grade level, Florida law

keeps them from advancing to a higher grade where they will fall even farther behind. Onlinelearning is a common element in Floridahomes and classrooms. And, thanks to thestate’s multiple routes to teacher certi cation,established professionals are allowed to moveinto teaching careers.

These policies have borne results. In 1998,Florida was a typical Southern state, with poor

and minority students learning little and mostly dropping out of high school. But graduationrates have improved and test scores areskyrocketing. Florida’s youngest generation of students has some of the best reading scoresin the country. The state’s schools are on the

rise, primarily because of their solid progress with low-income, disadvantaged and minority students – progress made possible throughsound state policies.

Illinois can adopt all of Florida’s policies.Future Illinois Policy Institute publications willexplore each in further depth, with concretesteps for making them law. Those policies are:

Grading School Performance by awarding schoolsan A, B, C, D or F based not only on overallperformance but especially upon the advancesthat disadvantaged students make over thecourse of the school year.

School Voucher Programs for poor students,students in failing schools, and students withdisabilities.

Charter Schools Statewide to create new choicesof innovative schools within the public schoolsystem for dozens of Illinois communities.

Expansive Online Learning that can t nicheneeds within every household and community,all at once serving dropouts, gifted students,hospital-and-homebound children or any otherchild looking for an education that meets theirunique time and learning demands.

Ending Early Social Promotion by keeping 3rdgrade students who test far below grade levelfrom being advanced to a higher grade wherethey will fall further behind.

Attracting Diverse Teachers from a variety of economic, ethnic and academic backgrounds.

In Illinois, bold reformers like Sen. JamesMeeks have issued a challenge: presentbipartisan ideas that will provide education toall students, especially those left helpless withinour current education system. Republicans andDemocrats should answer his call. They should

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Every school n Illinois should have he same

staf ng eeway as the

state’s charter schools.



look to Florida’s remarkable record of successand the policies that made it possible. And they should implement those policies in Illinois.

Acknowledgement The authors would like to thank Dr. Matthew

Ladner, vice president of research at theGoldwater Institute, for his encouragement toundertake this project. Dr. Ladner has for yearsheralded Florida’s remarkable gains and thereforms that made them possible.

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Endnotes1 “Their Blood Is On Our Hands,” by James

Meeks, Chicago Tribune, October 29, 2009.http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-10-29/news/0910280612_1_white-eighth-graders-chicago-

public-schools-chicago-teachers-union

2 The Nation’s Report Card, “Reading, 2009 State Snapshot Report: Illinois,” published by the U.S. Department of Education: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/stt2009/2010460IL4.pdf

3 Collin Hitt, 2010. “A Rising Tide: School Vouchers and Their History of Improving Public Schools,” published by the Illinois Policy Institute: http://illinoispolicy.org/news/article.asp?ArticleSource=2473

4 Victor Bandeira de Mello, Charles Blankenship,Don McLaughlin, 2009. “Mapping State Pro ciency Standards Onto NAEP Scales: 2005-2007,”

published by the U.S. Department of Education: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pubs/studies/2010456.asp

5 Jay P. Greene and Stuart Buck, 2010. “The Case for Special Education Vouchers,” Education

Next, Winter 2010, Volume 1, Number 1: http://educationnext.org/the-case-for-special-education-vouchers

6 Collin Hitt, 2010. “A Rising Tide: School Vouchers and Their History of Improving Public Schools,” published by the Illinois Policy Institute: http://illinoispolicy.org/news/article.asp?ArticleSource=2473

7 David Figlio and Cassandra Hart, 2010.“The Competitive Effect of Means Tested Vouchers,” published by the National Bureau of Economic Researcher, April 2010: http://www.

google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF- 8&rlz=1T4DKUS_enUS264US264&q= glio+ orida+vouchers

8 Center for Education Reform, www.charterschoolresearch.com.

9 Ron Zimmer, Brian Gill, Kevin Booker, Stephane Lavertu, Tim R. Sass, John Witte, 2008. “Charter Schools in Eight States: Effects on Achievement,

Attainment, Integration, and Competition,” published as a monograph by the RAND Corporation: http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG869/

10 The State of Charter School Authorizing: 2nd Annual Report on NACSA’s Authorizer Survey,” published by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers: http://www.qualitycharters.org/images/stories/2009_Facts_Report.pdf

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11 Illinois State Board of Education, IndependentCharter School Authorizer Task Force. “Final Repor

Appendix E” published by the Illinois State Board oEducation: http://isbe.net/charter/pdf/ nal_task_

force_report.pdf

12 Illinois State Board of Education, Independent

Charter School Authorizer Task Force. “Final Report,” published by the Illinois State Board of Education: http://isbe.net/charter/pdf/ nal_task_

force_report.pdf

13 Marcus Winters and Jay P. Greene, 2006.“Getting Ahead By Staying Behind: An Evaluation of Florida’s Program to End Social Promotion,” Education Next, Spring 2006, Vol. 6, No. 2: http://educationnext.org/getting-ahead-by-staying-behind/

14 Daniel Nadler and Paul Peterson, 2009. “What Happens When States Have Genuine Alternative Certi cation?” Education Next, Vol. 9, No. 1:

http://educationnext.org/what-happens-when-states-have-genuine-alternative-certi cation

15 Collin Hitt, 2009. “Charting the Course: Illinois Charter Schools Offer a Proven Solution to tState’s Dropout Problem,” published by the Illinois Policy Institute: http://illinoispolicy.org/news/articleasp?ArticleSource=1511

16 Daniel Nadler and Paul Peterson, 2009. “What Happens When States Have Genuine Alternative Certi cation?” Education Next, Vol. 9, No. 1: http://educationnext.org/what-happens-when-states-have-genuine-alternative-certi cation Appendix A: Data Sources for Graphs 1 through 7



Nation’s Report Card Reading Scores collected from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics. National Assessment of EducationalProgress (NAEP), 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009 Reading Assessments, http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata.

NAEP Reading scale ranges from 0 to 500. Illinois NAEP scores begin in 2003; scores wereunavailable in 2000 and reporting standards were not met in 1998 and 2002. Florida NAEP scoresunavailable in 2000. Florida English Language Learners NAEP scores unavailable in 1998.

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Appendix A: Data Sources for Graphs 1 through 7

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